some similar cases

Other Local Cases

Each case is different, but they give the reader a pretty good idea of what a person can expect if he or she attempts to murder a law enforcement officer in the performance of his or her duty. In each of the cases below the officers survived their attacks.

May 9, 1987

Missoula Police Officer Chris Schultz responded to a call of a male/female disturbance in the 500 block of west front street. As he arrived at the scene, the male suspect drew a .357 magnum revolver and began firing at the patrol car. Several shots penetrated the car's front windshield, one round struck officer Schultz in the center of his upper chest. Schultz accelerated his patrol car striking his assailant, knocking him to the ground. The suspect suffered only minor injuries and was arrested. Officer Schultz escaped serious injury or death due to his bullet resistant vest, a police chaplain riding with Schultz was not injured.

The offender, Clark Theodore Johnson, a 43 year old drifter and ex-small town cop was tried and convicted of attempted deliberate homicide and is currently serving a 60 year term in Montana State Prison.

Clark Theodore Johnson

Since this website was published Clark Theodore Johnson received parole on Feb 13, 2006.
Johnson returned to prison on December 14th 2006.

December 19, 1991

Montana Highway Patrolman Shawn Driscoll encountered the suspect in an armed robbery of the First Security Bank in Missoula. The suspect was stopped as he was traveling northbound on highway 93 about 3 1/2 miles north of Missoula. Patrolman Driscoll ordered the suspect to remain seated in his vehicle. Before backup arrived, the suspect exited his vehicle and opened fire on Driscoll with an AK-47 rifle. Patrolman Driscoll returned fire with his 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol killing his assailant. Officer Driscoll received minor cuts resulting from broken glass from the patrol car window.

April 7, 1992

Montana Highway Patrol Officer Francine Giono recovered after being shot in the leg and shoulder during a shootout with an offender. The suspect opened fire on Giono when she pulled him over for a traffic violation on Highway 200 east of Missoula. The suspect was wanted for homicide in Nevada and was driving a truck belonging to the person he murdered. Giono killed her attacker in the shootout.

June 27, 1992

A 53 year old federal tax protester and religious militant shot and wounded Missoula County Sheriff Deputy Bob Parcell.

Parcell was shot in the chest after he had stopped a truck in which Gordon Sellner was riding to question him about an assault Sellner had witnessed earlier in the day. Parcell's bullet resistant vest saved his life. Sellner said he thought Parcell was a federal hit man trying to kill him.

A state District Court jury convicted Sellner of attempted murder in 1996 and he was sentenced to life in prison, plus 10 years for using a weapon.

Sellner loses latest appeal.
Sellner loses Montana Supreme Court appeal.
Gordon Dwane Sellner

October 21, 1998

An eerily similar case occurred in Missoula. A Missoula City Police Officer responded to a call that a 20 year male was attempting to forge checks at a local bank (the checks had been stolen in a burglary earlier). The male suspect ran from the police officer as he approached. During a short foot pursuit the suspect turned and fired a pistol at the officer striking him in the neck (the pistol had also been stolen in a burglary).

The police officer survived the incident but was quadriplegic due to the gunshot injury. He died February 12th 2010 from complications of injuries sustained more than eleven years prior when he was shot in the line of duty.

The suspect was tried and found guilty of attempted deliberate homicide and several lesser offenses relating to the incident. The offender is currently serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for the attempted homicide plus 90 years for the other offenses.

Missoula Police Officer Shot
Suspect Faces Six Charges
Life in Prison for Martin
James Gene Martin

June, 28, 2000

An Idaho man who shot and wounded a Montana Highway Patrol Officer, was sentenced to 3 life sentences plus twenty years in prison after pleading no contest to three counts of attempted deliberate homicide and felony assault with a weapon.

David Theodore Morgan Sr. was initially pulled over near Hamilton on June 28, but sped off when reserve deputies asked him to step out of the truck. He sped north through Hamilton, forcing another driver off the road, and only came to a stop after a Highway Patrolman set a "stop-stick" in the road.

Morgan then fled the stolen truck with a rifle and hid behind a bear carving outside a shop near Victor. Morgan began firing at the Highway Patrol Officer as he arrived in a patrol car. One of the four bullets fired hit the Patrolman in the elbow and ricocheted off of his bullet resistant vest. The other bullets hit his patrol car and the sheriff's patrol car that had arrived minutes later.

Highway Patrolman Shot, Suspect Arrested
Man gets 3 life sentences for officer shooting
David Theodore Morgan

June 15, 2003

A Ravalli County sheriff's deputy attempted to stop a car for a traffic violation just south of the Missoula County line. Unbeknownst to him, the driver of the car had shot and killed a man in Madison County, Montana the prior evening. Before the deputy was able to exit his car the suspect opened fire on him. The deputy was wounded and the suspect left the scene Northbound toward Missoula.

The suspect was intercepted by a Missoula County Deputy Sheriff and a Montana Highway Patrolman. After a long chase during which the Highway Patrolman and the Deputy Sheriff became the target of an attempted ambush and gun battle. The Suspect was arrested. The Highway Patrolman was seriously injured but recovered.

The 46 year old male with white supremacist ties, was convicted of a Madison County murder and six attempted murders, and the attempted murder of the three law enforcement officers. He received consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole for each of the offenses.

Bitterroot Shootout
Davis Sentenced to 11th Life Sentence
Shoot-out survivor recounts life-threatening experience
George Harold Davis

April 13, 2005

Missoula Police Officer Rick Stevenson was shot in the leg and chest while pursuing a suspect near McCormick Park. The male suspect, was killed by police officers who returned fire after the man shot Stevenson. The incident began with a hit-and-run accident, an officer on a motorcycle pursued the man. The suspect fired at the officer on the motorcycle, but missed. He then took cover in an irrigation ditch. The man came out of his hiding spot and started firing. The officers, including Stevenson, returned fire, killing the suspect. Officer Stevenson's bullet resistant vest saved his life.